News

Doctor struck off for offering FGM on Green Lanes

A Haringey doctor has been struck off the medical register for offering to arrange female genital mutilation for two girls aged ten and 13.

Ali Mao-Aweys, of Mao-Aweys Medical Services, based in Green Lanes, was secretly filmed offering to carry out the procedure for an undercover reporter posing as the aunt of two girls in April 2012.

Mr Mao-Aweys gave her advice, along with the phone number of a Birmingham doctor who could perform the operation.

He suggested the reporter take her nieces to Africa, where the process would be less “dangerous”.

During a hearing at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester, Mr Mao-Aweys, a Somalian national, said that his poor English meant he had been “bewildered during the entire conversation” and had misunderstood the reporter.

The panel decided that Mr Mao-Aweys “displayed a willingness to engage in the procurement of FGM, which he knew was an illegal act”.

He was arrested in May 2012 but released without charge, and has always denied offering to arrange FGM. Mr Mao-Aweys was unavailable for comment.